Here’s what our conversion experts had to say about this landing page.

Tim Ash

What I Like:

Decent production quality.

What I would change or test:

1) Change or remove the giant graphic.

This graphic is gratuitous “business porn” that can be bought cheaply at any stock photo website. It does nothing to support the call to action and draws way too much visual attention. The person in the image is looking upwards and makes the visual attention go into the header and not into the call-to-action box.

2) Match visitor intent with better headline

A clear spanning headline that supports the “get MBA online” keyword would be best. “Get Your MBA Online at University of Phoenix” would be much more powerful than some marketing happy-happy talk about “Become a Phoenix.”

3) Make the call-to-action box compelling.

The current box is a basic outline and essentially white-on-white. The headlines for the two steps are very weak, and the “Next Step” buttons are uninspiring.

MBA? Done! Man was that fast! I liked how the 5 steps didn’t really feel like steps thanks to the short forms. These can be dangerous, but I think U of Phoenix has gotten this one right.

The call to action in the form is good, offering a free consultation. Repeat this again on the “Last Step” for extra conversion goodness.

What I would change or test:

Overall the design draws the eye to the important parts of the page. I would test the following:

1. The copy is functional, but not inspiring. Inspire me! Overcome my natural fear that an online degree won’t be taken seriously.

2. There are two calls to action in the form: “Learn More!” and “Get your personalized consultation”. Pick one and stick with it through each step.

3. Reconsider the “Business Porn” image. Where is the devilishly handsome young man looking? Is he a student? Use a picture of a real graduate and put a caption on it. “Emma Beeyay, Graduate and employee of BigCo, Inc.” That’s an image and caption that is truly sexy.

4. “Five steps” sound like a lot. Try four, three, two and one.

5. Try something other than red for the page’s color palette. It communicates “danger” and “error.”

This is a nice looking landing page, they’ve removed any navigation and hyper-focus the user on completing the form. Some other noteworthy aspects to this page (I will go more in depth about these below) include the form progress indicator, dynamic content, and boxing off the form.

1) Form Progress Indicator

I have seen plenty of tests between single page step forms vs. multi-step forms. Whenever I see a multi-step form I applaud the form’s creator for adding a progress bar indicator. As soon as I hit the landing page I am informed by the form’s headline that I will complete this form in ‘Two Easy Steps’ (the screenshot provided says 5, but when I visited the live landing page I was given a 2 step process).

However, from a design standpoint, the visual cues are not consistent with the headline copy. For example if I am on step 1 of 2 and the progress bar indicator is only a 1/4 full, I am not receiving visual confirmation of the length of the form. Updating the progress bar, to reflect a two-step process could help re-enforce the message in the copy.

2) Dynamic Content

I really liked the dynamic insertion of the City, State, and Zip. However, from a usability standpoint it said I was located in Auburn, MA when I am in fact in Brighton, MA. Since it got the city and ZIP wrong, I had to click a small text link to update my information. Dynamic content is one of my favorite things to see used on a page, but make sure it is working correctly before sending your PPC traffic to the page.

3) Boxing off the form

I also really liked how the form was separated from the page via a red outline. This is a great way to draw attention to the form and get visitors to complete the desired action. One thing I would suggest trying in addition to having the form in its own box, is to make the background of the rest of the landing page a little darker than the form. This would drive the eye to the form even more than a 1-2 pixel red outline.

What I would change or test:

I discussed above some of the downfalls of this page, specifically the dynamic content being a little off and the progress indicator’s design being insufficient as a visual cue for the form’s headline. So on top of tweaking those two issues, I have one more suggestion for this page:

Tighten up the copy and highlight your benefits!

Firstly, I feel there is a lot of text on this page, and that the particular headlines in use are fairly generic. I can’t stress how important copy is on a landing page, and none of the copy provided makes me feel confident that I will benefit most by going to the University of Phoenix for my MBA. The reason I don’t know the benefits is because NONE of the benefits are highlighted properly, they are listed below a long paragraph of text.

On first glance I thought the University didn’t include any benefits oriented text because I started reading the long paragraph and got distracted. If I am that easily distracted writing a review, think of how distracted your consumers will be.

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10 COMMENTS

What I like:
1: I like the graphic. Yes, it is a little generic, but it hits the target market squarely. Most MBA candidates are men (~55%) 24-30 (45%) who are interested in personal wealth [GMAC 2012 report]. Stock photography or not, people like to see themselves enjoying a product before they buy.
2: I like the live chat option. If you are unsure whether you’re truly interested, there isn’t any where to browse, but the live chat can help push you to fill out the form to get more marketing materials. (hover color claches with the red though)
3: I like the short forms that are broken into steps. It makes it easy to complete the first step. I also like that they keep the picture (or at least the important parts) through the entire process.
4: My test was a little different (proving they are constantly testing these things and more). The last step for me was almost a full page form, but I like that they use javascript to let me know when I’ve made a mistake before I even get to the next field.

What I would test:
1: Put a small paragraph or at least an [i] hover that tells the user why you need their name, address, phone, email, etc. etc. on the last page. Something like: We will send you a complementary brochure and one of our expert career counselors will contact you for a personalized consultation to help you select the best path for your career goals. This helps set the expectations for the person filling out the form.
2: The GMAC report also shows that home life is very important for MBA candidates, especially those looking for an online degree. I think the page could benefit from some copy or bullet points that highlight how University of Phoenix lets you take courses online or on campus, and this flexibility makes it easy to ballance work, life, and school, all while achieving your goal of an MBA.
3: If you were to test changes to the picture, I would NOT test a student graduating. (I didn’t attend any of my graduations). I would test a picture of a guy playing outside on a nice day with his family. That’s what an MBA is all about. Get a degree to make more money to spend more time on the stuff that counts.

I love how the experts start off with what they like. As I jotted down notes looking at the screenshots, I never thought to include something positive

My first impression was that my eyes were deadlocked on the hero shot. It’s a very strange head position. I can see what they’re trying to do here, use the model’s gaze to point to the call to action, but the way the page is designed and content is chunked, I doubt it has the guiding effect. I agree with Tim that the gaze is upward. The call to action is downward.

The gray progress bar may also be hindering eye flow to the dropdown menu. My eyes got stuck on that as well.

I don’t like the 2-column blocks of text. The paragraphs, though including bullet points, look longer because they are squished down, my brain has to separate these sentences from the peripheral text on the other side.

But my biggest challenge was the headline. “Achieve your goals with an MBA.” Well I assume if an MBA was the ticket to realizing my goals, any old online MBA program would do. What makes U of Phx better than any of the other online options. Why should I stay on this PPC landing page and not jump back to search results to see what else is out there.

I agree with the comment that showing a real graduate (who works for a Fortune 500 or better) with a testimonial would trump the stock photo.

From a branding perspective, Phoenix is walking a thin line here. Yes, it’s a clean, sanitized layout, but that also underscores the clinical, depersonalized nature of the educational ‘product’ they are offering. Whether the admission selection process matters, whether in-person interaction contributes to learning (or networking), is the crux of the argument about the future of education. This approach — including a guy who is so disengaged he can’t even look at us — leaves me stone cold. Further, it doesn’t match their television message at all.

It was very interesting the see the number of varying things the panel picked up on. Especially when Naomi said, she knew they would have already tested extensively. It’s amazing what persepective a fresh pair of eyes or 5, can offer.